If you think board games are going to be replaced by video games, just watch a few teenagers playing both. While playing video games, teens are focused on the screen, without so much as an uttered word. Perhaps a few noises erupt from their mouths, but nothing intelligible. Board games - now there is a pastime that will never die. Sure, they spend months at a time in a dark closet, but when they are needed, their worth is immeasurable. Just watch those same teens play board games together: animated faces, exchanged words, laughter, and the occasional explosive argument… you just can’t beat it for social interaction. Occasionally people need a little help passing the time together creatively. That’s where board games come in.

The following is a subjective list of the best games every family should have. Criteria for choosing these board games included:

1. The game must be played on a board (no card or dexterity games). 2. It must be a very popular or bestselling game.3. The game must be an original idea – not based on another existing game. 4. The game offers some challenge or benefit to the brain. 5. It must be fun for multiple ages. 6. The game must have been created sometime during the last hundred or so years. (This criteria took out chess and checkers).

1. Monopoly – If you haven’t played the world’s bestselling game, you certainly must have heard of it. Its history is almost as fascinating as amassing vast tracts of real estate. Next time you pass go and collect $200, contemplate the odd twist of irony this game allegedly took from its origins to the people who eventually claimed its sole creation (Charles Darrow and Parker Brothers).

It was purported to be the Landlord game invented by Quaker Elizabeth Magie in 1904. Magie’s game was meant to help the poor understand the benefits of owning property for the sake of renting. Darrow’s version was more capitalistic, to say the least. One way to win the game is to gather a monopoly of properties; then you can charge double rent in those districts. In spite of its doubtful beginnings, Monopoly’s rich history includes being used in WWII to communicate with allied POWs behind enemy lines. Maps, money, and instructions were hidden within the game contents in such a way that only the captured soldiers (briefed beforehand) knew about.

2. Scrabble – Too bad this phenomenon of a board game did not take off when its creator, Alfred Butts, really needed it. He formulated the idea for the game during the Great Depression when he was laid off from work in 1931. An architect by occupation, Butts twiddled with the game until entrepreneur James Brunot agreed to market the game with royalties going to Butts. Brunot made a few changes, like color and a name change (from Criss-Crosswords to Scrabble). It was under his direction that the game gained popularity, but he eventually sold the rights to the Selcher & Righter Company. The popular game changed hands until it was purchased by Milton Bradley in 1987. The worldwide rights outside of the U.S. belong to Mattel.

Alfred Butts never became fabulously rich from the hundreds of millions of games sold in the last 50 years, but he enjoyed playing his game, and lived to attend the first Scrabble World Championships in 1991.

3. Clue – It was Professor Plum in the conservatory with the revolver! Or is that Doctuer Dunkel? Depends on the country where you bought your game. The Swiss aren’t the only ones to change a few names; in Spain Prof. Plum is known as Dr. Mandarino. The charm of this mystery game is partly in the characters, partly the whole idea of a cozy mystery without the blood. It’s comforting, like an Agatha Christie page-turner. The goal is to find out which of the house guests murdered the hosts (Mr. Boddy), where they murdered him, and with what. It’s a simple process of elimination, meaning that the winner is likely the one who rolled higher points on the dice. The game itself is not much of a challenge, but it is fun to play with children. If you do play it with your kids, take mental notes on who has good deductive reasoning skills, and who wonders first why Mr. Boddy was murdered. In England, where the game was first published in 1946 by inventor Anthony Pratt and Waddingtons Games Ltd., this game is called Cluedo. Today’s many versions of Clue are produced by Parker Brothers.

4. The Game of Life – Reason number one to play this board game: it gets your children talking about… well, life. The updated version has several new features from the older game of Life we played as kids: you have multiple chances to sue your teammates, and you can choose a career and a starter home from several picture cards, then later upgrade your home (if you have the means). Parts of it are unrealistic, but it’s easy to qualify those features for children by groaning, “Oh, that is so not like real life!” (As in winning thousands of dollars or finding buried treasure.) The game we know today was produced in 1960 by Milton Bradley, but it was based on “The Checkered Game of Life,” invented by Milton Bradley himself in 1860. It was his very first game.

5. Settlers of Catan – It was the first German game to make it big outside of Europe. Its popularity opened the door for other excellent German-style games to gain popularity in America, as well as a renewed interest in board games among adults. The goal of the game is for the players (settlers) to settle the desert island of Catan, building roads and cities and trading. It is a simple game with satisfying complexities, but easy enough for kids (recommended ages 10 and up).

6. Ticket to Ride – This board game may not be as popular as the Beatles song of the same name, but at only a few years old (2004) it has a great start with four awards under its belt. Ticket to Ride is based on trains, with board game rules that can be explained in just a few minutes (a relief from some of the more detailed modern fantasy games) and yet retains each player’s attention throughout the game. The game board is simply beautiful. To date, the game has spawned multiple versions of itself, as so many other games have done. (Monopoly, for example, can be played with Homer Simpson or Ralphie of the Christmas Story, complete with street name changes and relatable moving pieces.) The original Ticket to Ride game is based on a map of the U.S., but you can buy the game for Europe as well as Germany (called Marklin), both of which are equally enjoyable as the original. Recommended age range is for 8 and up.

Stock your closet with these board games, if you do not already own them. Consider them emergency supplies for those rare occasions when you are snowed in or lose electricity for days. If you find even one that you or your kids would prefer over videos, you have a winner.

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